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Project: Overarching Roles for CCLOW
Prepared by Jane Larimer
Recommendations
CCLOW should work to:
- Establish a clearinghouse of information related to
women's education and training issues.
- Articulate best practice models in a women-positive
context
- Provide a forum for discussion and analysis of issues
Establish A Clearing House of Related
Information
Educators, activists and administrators all want
current information but have very little time to devote to finding, reading and
analyzing such information. An undercurrent throughout the pre-conference and
conference discussions was the desire for CCLOW to compile and disseminate
information which already exists but has not been widely distributed or
promoted. Though no ideas were generated about how this activity could be
funded, it was seen as a tremendous service that CCLOW could provide its
members.
Articulate Best Practice Models in a
Women-Positive Context
There were many calls for CCLOW to
articulate women-positive "best practice" models (e.g., in Family Learning and
in Workplace Education). Depending on the needs of the learners, these models
can be inclusive of men or other family members- are often enhanced by their
presence-but their distinguishing feature is that the needs of women are
primary.
Provide a Forum for Discussion and
Analysis of Issues
A related activity is the continued need for
women to have a forum for discussion and analysis on issues central to CCLOW's
mandate. It is not possible for each woman to read and digest all the material
in a topic area; only by sharing knowledge with each other can collective
wisdom grow. Vehicles for this ongoing dialogue were called for at the
conference, though there was no clear means of communication preferred. Various
electronic methods (such as list serves and the AlphaPlus AlphaCom) are used by
conference participants, and none is problem free. Through the process of
re-establishing itself, CCLOW may be better able to respond to this call from
conference participants.
Curriculum Development
Participants in pre-conference discussion strongly indicated
that delivery works best when curriculum is individualized. A single
curriculum, though developed from a feminist perspective, is not as valuable as
a variety of woman-positive, feminist materials. For this reason, rather than a
demand for new curriculum, the focus is on development of a range of materials
that have a feminist or women-positive perspective.
Conclusion
Conference
participants spoke about the difficulty in absorbing and analyzing vast
quantities of information required to remain current in their field of work.
There is a need for some organization, perhaps CCLOW, to take on the role of
collecting, summarizing and making available new information in the field.
The articulation of best practice models, which create safe and
supportive environments for women to learn (with or without other family
members), would be a welcome contribution to the field. These models, grounded
in theory and developed by practitioners, would need to be promoted across the
country. The network of women connected to CCLOW may provide a good base for
the dissemination of this work.
In conjunction with these activities, there is a desire among
the conference participants to remain connected to each other, and to carry on
the ongoing dialogue and analysis of issues that has been a part of CCLOW's
history. CCLOW was encouraged to continue with this work.
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